Behind the Scenes -shooting Joe Malinchak's L-4 Grasshopper

I arrived at Joe's private strip early in the morning. The fog was thick over the field.  Our plan was to do an air-air photo shoot of his Piper L-4 before we had two different models showing up for a pin-up session.  After we greeted each other, we started talking logistics for the air-air shoot. Quickly our plans were changing, a stark contrast to the still fog. Joe had arranged for a camera ship to come from another airfield, and that strip was socked in. Joe's field is high up, and the camera ship was coming from the valley. Not to worry, plans change. We ended up making good use of time and switched to shooting the models first and the air-air work later.  I was going to miss out on that beautiful early morning light, but it was the only day the schedules lined up to shoot. While we were waiting for the models, Joe and I decided to get some images of him doing takeoffs and landings. We also shot a walk-around video where Joe covered the history of this particular serial number. Joe landed, and our first model arrived.

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I started to unpack gear and was introduced to our models for the day.  Chrissy arrived excited and looked ready to shoot! Chrissy is Joe's cousin, and both were excited to be able to be part of the My Bombshells calendar! She hadn't modeled before, so I got the rest of my equipment out and gave her some tips on poses as we talked through places where we would shoot around the airplane.

As a photographer, the overcast sky was giving me a huge help! That flat, overcast light meant I just needed a single light to give the model some pop. Since I had traveled for this shoot, I couldn't bring all the gear I wanted. It worked out OK, though, because today I really just needed a single light and an umbrella.  I positioned the light, tested the brightness, and got it dialed in so that Chrissy was exposed properly.  I ended up using my luggage to stabilize the stand as the softer ground wasn't helping my light stay up—improvising as a photographer means using what you have on hand to get the shot.

The light I brought was technically a studio light, but technology is amazing because this light has a small battery pack.  Being battery-powered means I can bring it anywhere and not have to worry about being near an electrical outlet.  It's wirelessly triggered too, which makes this whole thing a lot easier.  I can control the light from the wireless trigger, so all I need to do is dial up and down the power on top of my camera. It's a huge upgrade from the days when you had to fiddle with all the settings on the light itself!

For these studio lights, you can shoot in manual or TTL (through the lens). The TTL mode is an automatic one that will adjust the power of the light to get a balanced exposure.  For these types of shoots, I tend to shoot in manual since it gives me more control. Shooting TTL is great when the conditions are not changing but it doesn't always give consistent results when things change outside.  

Today I was also shooting with a Neutral Density (ND) filter and a mist filter. The ND filter lets me shoot at a bigger aperture which allows me to blur the background. The mist filter smooths out the skin on the models and gives a very subtle glow around the bright areas, ensuring I capture the inherent grace of our stunning models in their best light.

Chrissy was a natural in front of the camera. With very little direction, we shot several poses, starting at the front of the airplane and then moving to the cockpit. We shot some captivating snaps around the tail and quickly finished up our shot list.  Marissa was next and also had never modeled before. I moved the light back to the first position that I started in with Chrissy, and we got to shooting. Several poses and light moves later, we had worked around the airplane.  Marissa had brought a second wardrobe; this one was actually vintage and from the 1940s!  We all took a break while she got changed and adjusted her hair and make-up. We were back to shooting in no time, and we made another lap around the airplane, shooting various poses up by the propeller and engine, in the cockpit, on the wheels, and behind the tail.

Despite our original plan not working out that day, these bombshell women sophisticatedly showed off their strength and beauty throughout the shoot. The combination of the vintage warbird and our new models' effortless sexiness quickly paid homage to what we all love and expect from a MyBombshells calendar. So far, so good.

With the photography of the models done, we turned our attention to the air-air shoot. We decided that I should drive to the other airfield, and Joe was going to fly the L-4. That way, I could leave from there and I would have all my gear in case I needed anything.  It was a short 30-minute ride, and before I knew it, I was pulling into the airport looking for the now-familiar L-4.  Joe introduced me to Karsten and showed me the 172 that we were going to use as the camera ship.  

We removed a screw on the window so it could open fully, and we climbed in. I got in the left seat, and Karsten got in the right. He fired the engine up, and a few minutes later we were doing the engine run up and rolling down the runway.  Joe had taken off before us, and we quickly caught up with each other for formation. Joe flew a loose formation off our left side, and we started flying large left-hand circles as I snapped away at the little L-4.  With the 172 powered back, the L-4 was keeping up beautifully. Even though we were shooting in mid-day light, the images were still looking pretty good. This wasn't the early morning or late evening light that I was hoping for, but it was working.

We shot the L-4 from several different angles and from left and right circles. I had him move into different positions, both near and far, to get a variety of shots.  One challenge of shooting air-air with a propeller plane is you can't set the shutter speed too high. If you do, the propeller will look frozen and motionless. You want a nice blur from the propeller—a full arc if you can get the shutter low enough. For these shots, I was using a 100-500mm lens. A good rule of thumb usually is to shoot a shutter speed that matches the focal length (or double the focal length if things are moving).  This will minimize the blur in your images from the camera shake.  With our loose formation, I was shooting at 200-500 mm which means I should have been between 1/200 and 1/1000 shutter speed.  I knew the problem with shooting that high would be that the prop would look frozen, so I backed the shutter way down between 1/60 and 1/125 and was getting some decent shots. Some were blurry, but fortunately, this camera takes 40 images a second, so I can shoot a bunch and throw out the blurry ones in the edit.

I shot with both my cameras, and we called it a day. Joe and the L-4 broke off and came back to land. We followed in the 172. Once on the ground, we checked out a few of the images on the back of my camera. I did get some very usable shots, and we all parted ways. I got in the car to drive to my next destination. As I was leaving, I could see Joe climbing out to head back to his airstrip. Farewell, my friend, onto the next photo shoot! 

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